This is part two of a series of bicycle touring on the Root River State Trail. Part one covered Fountain through Lanesboro depot, here is from the Lanesboro Depot east to Houston, MN.
Lanesboro to Whalen
Leaving Laneboro. It’s not uncommon to encounter people carrying tubes back from the campground on the western side of town
Father outside Lanesboro, the trail follows Highway 250 for a short time
Then there’s a short bridge
Halfway between Lanesboro and Whalen is the second of two awesome through-truss bridges
BikeCam view of the bridge
Chances are good you’ll see tubers on the bridge, a popular spot for jumping into the water
Whalen
The next town is Whalen.
There’s a city park with a gazebo. Here’s a view of the trail in town
A ride through Whalen:
Here’s me outside of Whalen
Peterson
The town of Peterson has an authentic depot, built in 1877. After passenger service ended, it was moved to the other end of the downtown area and today serves as the Peterson Museum.
A time lapse ride through Peterson
At a rest stop between Peterson and Rushford
Rushford
Interesting Old Buildings in Rushford. It used to be home for the Tri-County Record, founded in 2015. The paper finally folded in 2020 along with six others in the area when the owners merged them all into a single paper, the Fillmore County Journal. .
The old Rushford Depot is now a museum
Rushford Time Lapse
Beyond Rushford is more typical scenery until Money Creek, where the preserved railroad bed runs out. The town of Money Creek is actually some distance away not on the trail; all that is on the trail is a clearing and picnic table. Here trail then takes a sharp turn to the south, crosses the river, and then the rest of the way to Houston is part old railbed, part new alignment along the river, and part in the ditch of the state highway with steeper hills than normal.
Houston, MN
Approaching Houston, here’s some folk art on the trail
The section near Houston is more open, which allows prairie flowers a place to grow
And some goldenrod. This is one of my favorites, I have a tame cultiver in my personal garden
We’ve now reached the nature center evirons. Here’s a human Sundial
Houston
I then continued on to explore Houston. Here’s a view looking back, the trail entrance and sign are on the lower left
Here’s an interesting coffee shop
This was the “COVID Summer” of 2020 and many of the small shops, museums, and resteraunts were closed. At the center of downtown, here was a tribute to the senior class of 2020
Here’s a map of Houston, Minnesota. The Root River Trail is in Red
Here’s East Cedar Street,
The International Owl Center
And finally, in the park an owl sculpture with a mask.
